Marlin has been making the ever long process of block propagation really compact. Its flexibility has been at par to suit every blockchain be it any consensus model. In this article, learn how Marlin has been so successful in doing so at ease.
To start with, let’s understand about the layers in Blockchain Technology…
Blockchain ecosystem comprises of different layers-
- Bottom layer is ‘Network Layer’ i.e., servers, cables, and all hardware.
- Middle one is ‘Consensus Layer’, where decision is made to finalize the block.
- Top layer is the ‘Application Layer’, where final decision gets recorded.
Structure and Definition
Marlin works at network layer which is also known as layer 0 of blockchain ecosystem. Marlin is focused on Network-Layer Performance, like scalability & resiliency and most importantly security, as it optimizes the network architecture underneath the blockchain. This means it could be a backend of Polkadot, Harmony, Tomochain, Polygon and many more to optimize and scale their network and hence, is also termed as Layer 0 Protocol.
Marlin’s Approach
Marlin is primarily focusing on eliminating 3 problem areas. But before that, let’s understand P2P networking to understand the approach:
P2P (Peer-to-Peer) Networking
When a new block is added to the blockchain, the instructions to replicate it is broadcasted to all other nodes one by one, across the network. This ensures that all the nodes are synchronized properly and exactly.
For example, I have a chain of 10 Nodes. So, if Node-1 generates a block, it will broadcast the exact information to Node 2 so that it clones itself as Node-1. Then, Node-2 will pass the same information to Node-3, Node 3 to 4, and so on. This is known as Peer-To-Peer Networking.
Problems areas being focused by Marlin:
- Un-incentivizing Peer-2-Peer Networking model by proposing an incentivized and efficient networking protocol - In current models, rewards are received for mining the blocks, but propagating them to other nodes is not incentivized.
- Throughput of the Blockchain - Peer-to-peer (P2P) communication at layer 0 is a major bottleneck, because nodes propagate blocks in an ad-hoc manner. As mentioned in the above Peer-2-Peer example, exact replicas are created i.e., at every hop, blocks are downloaded and validated completely and only then are forwarded, which reduces the throughput. Marlin enables quick transmission of blocks & transactions in the network which helps to make the consensus fast and increase the throughput.
- Scaling Blockchain without being centralized and without compromising on Security - To boost the throughput and overcome the network latency, blockchain miners are gathered in the same region or on the same cloud service provider, and so, decentralization is sacrificed.
To learn further on how Marlin is working to mitigate these problem areas, you can watch the below video:
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